Trampoline is a popular recreational and sporting equipment. In order to prevent injuries arise from accidentally bouncing off the mat, most trampolines erect safety poles to support a safety net around the bouncing mat. Setups of this type of safety mechanism with poles and nets can be appreciated from patents such as: U.S. Pat. No. 7,708,667B2, US20100190608A1, US20140228176A1, and US20140221162A1. One common feature shared by these safety mechanisms is that adjacent safety poles are generally parallel to each other. Safety poles can bend toward the bouncing mat due to the force exerted from the bouncing surface.
One problem with the safety poles bending toward the mat is that it effectively reduces the space a person can utilize vertically while bouncing. The reduction of jumping space is also unpredictable, due to the dynamic force exerted through jumping. This element of uncertainly presents a challenge for the jumper to have to continuously compensate for it in order to avoid hitting the poles. Such a challenge can be particularly dangerous for children, who are in general less aware of the space around them, and require longer reaction time since they are still in the process of learning to avoid obstacles. The tips of the poles, as they bend towards the bouncing person, can also cause scraping injuries if the person is too close to the edge of the bouncing mat.
The present invention is a trampoline with safety poles organized in a lattice type of formation with multiple joints. It provides more coverage around the trampoline as a safety mechanism. The lattice type formation also strengthens the safety poles via strategic connections, disperses force asserted onto the safety poles, and thus prevents them from bending towards the person bouncing on the trampoline. As a result, the inward bending of the safety poles is largely eliminated, and guarantees a stable amount of space for jumping that does not change even as the jumper exerts a great deal of force.